Ancestral Roofs

"In Praise of Older Buildings"

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Mr. Rogers would approve

I remember Mr. Rogers. Do you? His slow-paced children's television showMr. Rogers' Neighborhood [sic] ran for years, replaced by increasingly zippy educational offerings like Sesame Street and Electric Company. Mr. Rogers' show was like a visit with a kindly uncle or grandpa. A bit slow, maybe a tiny bit dotty, but a person who conveyed warmth, caring and all the patience in the world. The show ran from 1968 to 2000.

You might recall his often-used kindly prompt to his tiny viewers,encouraging them to attempt the name of something he might be telling them about. "Can you say....?" Today's more cynical folk parody that occasionally. "Can you say Transpacific Partnership, boys and girls?"

The theme song for Mr. Rogers' Neighbourhood was "Won't you be my Neighbour?" Here's an invitation back into the simple magic of the show.

I think Mr. Rogers would have liked Old Oakville. He might be especially pleased with the neighbourliness of the neighbourhood, where ship captains, merchants and tradespeople lived in close proximity, in well-built homes. The quality of building might be attributed to the skills of the ships' carpenters who migrated to Chisholm's shipyards.

This might be due to an early prohibition on makeshift buildings and log construction imposed by Chisholm or his town planner Merrick Thomas. (I read that somewhere, and am having no luck relocating the source!)

Mr. Rogers would also like the well-kept nature of the neighbourhood, everything put away neat and tidy.

A feature of Old Oakville which makes a ramble even more edifying is the house plaques, identifying homes with the names of original owner/builder, his occupation and the build date.

Justus Williams, merchant (1838)

Old Oakville's homes, grand and humble, all look so well-built and lovingly maintained. This is due to the owners no doubt, who value their community and properties and want them all looking their best. The presence of an active Historical Society has doubtless 'raised the bar' through the years.

I found online a copy of the Oakville Historical Society newsletter from 2006, in which the process of application for the exterior house plaques was outlined.

Eligibility is simple. Houses have to be 100plus years old. I grew so curious as I wandered, not just intrigued by the architectural features and the exquisite natural beauty of the neighbourhood, but wanting to know so much more about the early inhabitants and their times.

Instant history lesson. Well done, Oakville Historical Society!

I must admit to being disappointed when some home owners appear to have declined to participate.

2 comments:

What I like about the old part of Oakville is that so much of the built heritage dates from the very first days of the town (1830's). This is a feature that I love because we get a good glimpse of what the town might have looked like at that specific time. Its reminiscent of other towns in Canada that have large portions of their historic structures dating from narrow time frame....Niagara-On-The-Lake comes to mind b/c a good deal remains from the post-war rebuilding. Other towns like Bridgetown NS (1820's) and Shelburne NS (1780's)are also good examples that have high concentrations of structures from specific windows of time. It makes "time travel" all that much easier...

Great Architecture quotes

"The sins of the Architect are permanent sins" Frank Lloyd Wright, 1914

"In the end, we conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught." ~Baba Dioum, Senegalese poet (Posted in January on the ACO Acorn online)

"It is forbidden to disfigure external decorations on private buildings through modern additions and to spoil historic buildings in an important town out of avarice and the desire to make money." - Theodosius, Valentinianus, Arcadius (309 A.D.)

"It has been said that at its best, preservation engages the past in a conversation with the present over a mutual concern for the future" - William Murtagh (1988)

"Preservationists are the only people in the world who are invariably confirmed in their wisdom after the fact". - John Kenneth Galbraith (1979)

"A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines" - Frank Lloyd Wright

"Architecture is the art of how to waste space" - Philip Johnson

"Architecture is frozen music" - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Photo Gallery

"Caught in passing"

Striker/Walmsley House 1868

Albert Street beauty

Fort William Collegiate Institute - "they don't make 'em like they used to"